1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tape printing apparatus for printing on a tape material in the form of a laminate of a printing tape and a peel-off paper.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed a tape printing apparatus that carries out printing while feeding a tape material in the form of a laminate of a printing tape and a peel-off paper, provides a half-cut portion in the printed portion of the tape material so as to facilitate the peeling of the peel-off paper, and fully cuts the printed portion of the tape material to a predetermined length, thereby producing a label element. The conventional tape printing apparatus equipped with a half cutter and a full cutter has a blade for the half cutter and a blade for the full cutter mounted on the same support member to form a one-piece member, as disclosed e.g. in Japanese Utility Model Registration (Kokoku) No. 6-34126. Therefore, the cutting operations by the half cutter and the full cutter are always carried out simultaneously.
As described above, since the half cutter and the full cutter always performs their cutting operations simultaneously, the conventional tape printing apparatus suffers from a low degree of flexibility in the combination of a half cutter and a full cutter, which prevents the tape member from being cut as desired.
It is an object of the invention to provide a tape printing apparatus which has a high flexibility in the combination of a half cutter and a full cutter, and is capable of cutting a tape material as desired.
To attain the above object, the invention provides a tape printing apparatus comprising tape feeding means for feeding a tape material in the form of a laminate of a printing tape and a peel-off paper, printing means for printing on the tape material being fed by the tape feeding means, full-cutting means arranged at a location downstream of the printing means in a tape-feeding direction, for cutting off the tape material, half-cutting means arranged at a location downstream of the printing means in the tape-feeding direction, for carrying out half-cutting to cut off one of the printing tape and the peel-off tape of the tape material, and control means for individually and separately controlling the tape feeding means, the printing means, the full-cutting means, and the half-cutting means.
According to this tape printing apparatus, since the control means is provided for individually and separately controlling the tape feeding means, the printing means, the full-cutting means, and the half-cutting means, it is possible to carry out the half-cutting and full-cutting independently of each other. This increases the flexibility in the combination of full cutting and half cutting, so that the tape material can be cut as desired.
Preferably, the half-cutting means is arranged downstream of the full-cutting means.
According to this preferred embodiment, since the distance between the printing means and the full-cutting means can be minimized, a leading cut-off margin width can minimized to reduce waste of the tape material.
Preferably, the full-cutting means has a scissors-type cutter comprising a fixed blade, a movable blade, and a support shaft on which the fixed blade and the movable blade are commonly supported.
According to this preferred embodiment, since the full-cutting means is a scissors type, the entering angle is varied from a large one to a small one and prevent displacement of the tape material. This makes it possible to cut the tape material in a straight line. Further, the half-cutting is hardly adversely affected by the displacement of the tape material.
Preferably, the half-cutting means has a half cutter that moves in a direction of a width of the tape material to perform a cutting operation.
According to this preferred embodiment, the half-cutting means performs the cutting operation by moving in the direction of width of the tape material. That is, the half-cutting means cuts the tape material by its sliding operation, and therefore, compared with a shearing or force cutting operation, it is possible to cut off the tape material with a much smaller force, whereby it is possible to realize save energy, reduction of the size of a structure of the tape printing apparatus, and reliable cutting.
Preferably, the half-cutting means cuts the printing tape out of the printing tape and the peel-off paper.
According to this preferred embodiment, the printing tape is cut off but the strong peel-off paper continues, so that a completed label can be handled with ease even if the label becomes long e.g. when serial-numbered print elements are printed in succession.
More preferably, the control means controls the tape feeding means and the half-cutting means, such that half-cutting is carried out to cut off a printed label-forming portion of the tape material with a peel-off margin provided therefor which extends from an upstream end of the printed label-forming portion of the tape material in the direction of feeding of the tape material.
According to this preferred embodiment, a peel-off margin is provided on the tape material, which facilitates peeling of the peel-off paper.
Further preferably, the control means controls the tape feeding means, the printing means and the half-cutting means such that a sum of the peel-off margin of the printed label-forming portion and a leading margin of a printed portion becomes larger than a distance between the printing means and the full-cutting means.
Further preferably, when a plurality of print elements are successively printed without being cut off for separation, the control means causes the half-cutting means alone to curry out the half-cutting without causing the full-cutting means to cut off the tape material and providing the peel-off margin at a boundary between adjacent ones of the plurality of print elements.
According to this preferred embodiment, continuous printing can be carried out without providing peel-off margins between print elements, which makes it possible to reduce the waste of the tape material.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.